The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-05-25
Gen. Geo. A. Sheridan's Searching Re-
view of "The Modern Pagan"
An Eloquent and Brilliant Attack on the I'M
fair and Illogical Conclusions of the Great
American Defender of Skepticism.
An Ic0noclast Who Draws More Upon
His Imagination than Upon Facts.
"a Tale Told by an Idiot, Full of Sound
and Fury. Signifying Nothing"


house, gentleman in a black dress suit APP
peared before IN audience that for hour and
q half he Eeld fairly spell bound by his elo-
quence. This gentleman is General George A.
Sheridan, OF Louisiana. VINO, New Yorker by
birth. entered the army from Illinois, settling IN
New Orleans at the close Of the war. General
Sheridan's rotundity reminds one of General
BENJAMIN +. Butler, though he is scarcely so
tall, and upon his broad shoulders, above chest
of great depth, is a massive head with leonine
shock Of hair. He introduced by Major
w. III. Calkns. His subject 1.-THE Modern
Pagan" and without waste of time ne said he
used the name of Ingersoll in his address be-
cause he is recognized upon all sides as the most
brilliant and popular advocate and defender of
modern disbelief living to-day in America. He said
he bore Colonel Ingersoli personal illwill; that
ne knew him quite well, and there was no man
living who was the possessor of q more genial
personality; he was a good husband,
kind father. q stanch friend, and
patriotic citizen; his heart Is full
Of tenderness for the unfortunate and pity for
the afflicted, and these sentiments find constant
expression in deeds Of charity and Kindness; he
Is brilliant lawyer, a wonderful orator, never
failing to charm by the splendor of his rhetoric
and the beauty of his imagination. General
discusses all questions save one with candor,
ability and fairness, but whenever he approaches
the subject OF religion, that genial personality
drops from his shoulders, and he becomes at
once the loudest Of boosters and the most unfair
Of disputants No man ever assailed the
Christian religion with more eloquence, less
skill, worse logic, much concsit and so little
learning does Robert G. Ingersoll. Profoundly
ignorant of the subject he attempts to discuss
he unwisely presumes upon the yet denser ignor-
ance Of most of his hearers, and CONSTITUTES their
laughter and applause into a fun Endorsement of
his views and opinions.
The speaker here referred at some length to
the controversy between Colonel Ingersoli and
Judge Jeremiah Black, and said that while
Ingersoll is pulled up with pride and poses as an
intellectual gladiator of whom all men stand in
awe, he never confronted but really able
man, and the moment he felt the steel his gaudy
plumage fell, and he retreated from the field.
Rev. Platt, OF New York, Protestant minister,
and Father Lambert, Catholic priest OF that
State. have both ably attacked Ineersoll. but to
neither Of these gentlemen has he ever replied.
The world of real truthseeker in the fields of
religion science and craftsmanship have always
been accustomed to sec opposing systems repre-
scented and defended by the best leadership of
each. Huxley and Tyndall, Gladstone and
Spencer have in scientific discussion, been ar
rayed against each other in friendly and earnest
discussion. Catholic dignitaries have discussed
with Protestant professors the points OF differ
ence between their creeds. and In the political
field all the great representative men of the
country welcomed personal discussion as the
best method of discovering and indicating
truth The speaker said he did not know which
to admire most, IngersolPs aggressive force
and boldness of attack when confronted
him, the skill, judgment and celebrity with
which he disappeared when any one that prom
ised to make the battle hot doomed up in his hor-
lion. 1t was not his purpose the speaker said,
to enter into any theological or philosophical de-
fcnse of Christianity but believing sincerely that
Ineersoll should be rebuked, and the philosophy
he taught assaied, not only by the church, but
by all who bear in their hearts the conviction of
Gods existence and life beyond the grave; by
all who rejoiced in the wonders wrought and the
triumphs achieved in the of the simple
faith taught by the lowly Nazarene as he
dered through the sunlit valleys of Judea or sat
in the purple twilight that wrapt the brow of the
Mount of Olives round about with glory. Inger-
soil usually began his work of destruction by
presenting to his audience spurious issues not
involved IN the controversy, and then proceeded
to construct facts supposed to be necessary
to support his assumed position He had
a vicious habit Of substituting his vivid
imagination for facts; OF creating men of straw,
and then proceeding to demoish them with tre-
mendous energy. The speaker then quoted
high sounding sentence from one of Ingersolls
pieces, claimed that a careful examination Of
all of Ingersolps utterances, they would be
found simply like tale told by idiot. full of
sound and fury signifying nothing" He claimed
that belief IN God the foundation of all
truth. and that man would not call upon his
Creator to bear witness to falsehood. This was
not Ingersolrs doctrine. for he believed in lying
and in liars. Ingersoll once said II thank
thee Mother Nature, that thou hast implanted
ingenuity enough In the brain of a child when
attacked by q brutal parent to throw up a little
breastwork in the shape of lie." That was Mr..
Ingersolrs view of the sin of lying. and the
speaker desired to know If such belief was
likely to develop boys and girls into truthful
men and women. Ingersoll utterly ig-
nored the work of Christianity He
neither comprehended appreciated the
excellence and magnitude of the achievements
among us of the system he so flippantly assaulted.
He refused to recognize the fact that this coun-
try was absolutely the outgrowth and product
believe that all would have been better without
God and the Bible. Who founded. built up and
preserved this countryY To whom was lngersoll
indebted for all the blessings and privileges he
now enjoyed-to infidels or to believers in God2
He did not remember any Free thinkers among
the Mayhower's list of deathless names- He
covered head, and while the great thun-
dered against the ship and her fraii masts
swayed in the fierce breath of the storm.
cheered and comforted the weary wanderers
with the sublime and hopeful statement that
there was God-that they must trust to
luck and nature to bring them safely
TO the land. and that if they went down that
was the end of them. No such picture came
to view; but on the contrary, there seen
amid the storm and tempest with reverent
face standing at the helm; calm, serene, stead
fast: looking from the tumultuous waves to the
dark clouds above. and seeing far above their
angry backness Him at whose command the sea
of old, in faroff Galilee sank into restful silence
Infdes were not pioneers; they never redeemed
waste places. moral or physical This country
was founded by Christian men and women.
Urga the storm-swept coast OF New England
chilled with cold. faint for lack of proper food
amid blood and tears. they planted the tree un-
der whose wide-spreading branches Mr.. Ingersol
to-day found home, liberty and opportunity;
planted it in reverend fear Of that God he now
proposed, with blasphemous breath, to sweep
from the great universe born OF His own Great
i've energy Audacity, thy name is Ingersoll!
Ingratitude, here is a disciple thou canst crown
with laurels. for he is thy truly begotten son!
He then rapidly sketchcd the early settlement
OF the various States. and proved that in every
instance some Christian denomination had been
the first to plant the banner of advancing civili-
cation, aud claimed that on no foot of this great
empire to-day could he look and say with truth,
an infdel redeemed it from the grasp of barbar-
ism. InRersoll claimed that the Declaration Of
Independence ''the crandest, the bravest
and the most profound political document that
- cd hut ptaffw nf